NEW ZEALAND WINGER Israel Dagg today announced his retirement from rugby after failing to recover from a knee injury.
The 30-year-old World Cup winner played 66 Tests for New Zealand, debuting against Ireland in 2010.
He also won back-to-back Super Rugby titles with the Canterbury Crusaders in 2017 and 2018.
“While it’s bittersweet to mark the end of my playing career, I’m grateful to still be able to contribute to this Crusaders team in 2019 and help prepare some of the younger squad members to take the next step in their own careers,” he said.
New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew hailed Dagg as “one of the greats of our game”.
“He was an excitement machine on the rugby field and fans knew that when he got the ball in his hands that anything could happen,” said Tew.
Dagg was part of the All Blacks 2011 World Cup win but was dropped for the 2015 campaign.
He bounced back determined to prove a point and again became an All Black regular, playing his last Test against Argentina in September 2017.
Gavan Casey and Ryan Bailey are joined by Bernard Jackman to look back on a thrilling weekend of European rugby on the latest episode of The42 Rugby Weekly:
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